


Neighbourliness (Except When You Hate Them)

by Winter_Amaterasu



Series: Life Snippets in Fifty-Two Weeks (Featuring Buddy, the Good Boi) [2]
Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Buddy Is Still A Good Boi, Fluff, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-05
Updated: 2020-02-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:53:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22574326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winter_Amaterasu/pseuds/Winter_Amaterasu
Summary: Sypnosis: In which Ash doesn't get along with their resident infamous neighbour, Buddy tries to get along with a demon from Hell, and Eiji saves the day.Obviously.Snippet: " The chihuahua was a piece of work that got picked up by the neighbour (who, possibly, was even more of a piece of work herself). At first, Ash had only considered at first that him and Eiji were a little unlucky to be neighbours with a dour, old crone who had nothing better to do that yell at children passing by from her balcony. Then, came a time when Ash learnt of her name - Ms Havisham. Then, came Estella - the chihuahua. Of course, Ash had immediately wanted to move - far, far away from them."
Relationships: Ash Lynx/Okumura Eiji
Series: Life Snippets in Fifty-Two Weeks (Featuring Buddy, the Good Boi) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1363390
Comments: 2
Kudos: 54





	Neighbourliness (Except When You Hate Them)

Ash was sure that Buddy's obliviousness came from Eiji. That fact became more grounded as he watched the fluffball trying to make friends with the neighbour's own hellion from the kitchen window as Ash sipped coffee from an atrocious mug given to him by a drunk colleague on a Secret Santa. The furball had his nose sticking into a crack in their tall backyard fence, its butt up in the air, and its tail wagging round and round like helicopter blades. Then, it would run nilly-willy around the lawn with its tongue sticking out before diving its nose back into the crack. Thanks to the fence, Ash was not quite sure how the chihuahua was taking Buddy's overtly friendly introduction. Judging from the amount of high-pitched barking that the hellion was producing though, it seemed to Ash that the feeling was not quite mutual. Ash was also not sure how Buddy's nose was still intact.

The chihuahua was a piece of work that got picked up by the neighbour (who, possibly, was even more of a piece of work herself). At first, Ash had only considered at first that him and Eiji were a little unlucky to be neighbours with a dour, old crone who had nothing better to do that yell at children passing by from her balcony. Then, came a time when Ash learnt of her name - Ms Havisham. Then, came Estella - the chihuahua. Of course, Ash had immediately wanted to move - far, far away from them.

"We can't just move, Ash!" Eiji retorted, who was somehow so flabbergasted by Ash's brilliant idea of moving (possibly to that his hand stopped rubbing Buddy's belly. His soft and cuddly lover had been in his ritual cuddle session with the fur monster - which was done on top of the heaps of religious cuddling time with the not-Ash - before being interrupted. "And you can't just judge people by their names!"

Yes, you can! Ash had wanted to retaliate but the better half of his brain had thankfully registered that he would only sound petulant (which he was most definitely not - obviously). And that it normally agreed with Eiji at every turn. So, Ash kept mum about moving - for now.

"Ms Havisham is a misunderstood woman who I am sure is quite a good lady on the inside," Eiji further defended many weeks later after coming home with a dejected apple pie in his hands with a similarly dejected look upon his lovely face. Ash had immediately lurched at the sight of his pitiful lover, embracing the Japanese in his loving, strong arms, and soothing comforting words into the fluffy, dark hair. "She's utterly fabulous - I am sure she will be!" Eiji had wailed but his eyes were full of determination. Ash was not quite sure whether to coo or smack his palm over his forehead some more.

After a few more dejected apple pies, blueberry pies, and even pumpkin pies that were allegedly Ms Havisham's favourite (Ash visibly gagged at this), Eiji was thankfully close to giving up. Until the devil in a chihuahua's skin called Estella came into the scene. "She and Buddy could be the best of playmates!" Eiji had exclaimed with too much glee that Ash had to look away. Thus, puppy fluffball was swiftly introduced to the demon. Of course, it went horribly wrong. With quickness that even he did not knew he possessed, Ash had managed to dive in as soon as the floppy-eared puppy of theirs made the first friendly move and just before the hellion snapped at the furball's drooling tongue. Ash luckily survived the whole ordeal with only tiny teeth marks on his left forearm, a river of drool on the other, and a pounding headache where the old witch had hit him with her bag (seriously, why were the female race so adamant on carrying bricks and cannonballs in their tiny handbags!). Eiji, however, had delved in a quite catatonic state after the whole ordeal and needed a lot of reassurances in form of cuddles and kisses both from Buddy and Ash. Mainly Buddy, though, because life had always been unfair to Ash.

"I just don't understand!" Eiji exclaimed with watery eyes whilst hugging their still-drooling monster tight and proceeding to bury his cute button nose in all of that fur, "I thought we would have a breakthrough!"

No breakthroughs this time, Eiji, Ash commented inwardly because God knows what would happen if he actually voiced these words out to his much more hopeful, sunny lover. How one could cope with that aftermath?!

"Buddy! Let's go for a walk!" Ash finally called out as he opened the kitchen door. He had eventually grown tired (with also a considerably amount of pity) of the golden hair fluffball still trying to make friends with the still yapping hellion on the other side of the yard. 

Predictably, Buddy froze on the spot the second Ash mentioned 'walk' before barreling down on him. Before Ash knew it, he came face to face with a large, wet tongue, slathering him all over with drool. Ugh, Ash thought resignedly as stayed pinned on the kitchen floor as the dog continued to lick his face all over, how did ever Eiji endured you and your drool for so long. The saliva attack had thankfully ended in five minutes when Buddy had bounded off Ash in search for its ("Buddy's still a he, Ash" Eiji would scold him again for sure) harness and leash, barking happily all the way, leaving the blond lying on the floor and pondering whether the hellion next door would be easier to handle. In the end though, the thought of meeting with the pumpkin-loving hag and trading Buddy for the demon sent violent shudders down Ash's spine. Nope. Not a chance.

After more minutes wasted on herding Buddy and battling the furball to surrender to the power of the harness and the leash, Ash donned his coat and scarf before he went out of the brownstone with a quick 'Love! Just going to take Buddy for a walk!'. The harsh wind and the shivers that it caused almost made Ash want to run back into the lovely warmth of the brownstone until the thought of the inevitable scolding that he would receive from Eiji finally stopped him. Oh well, Ash resigned to himself, at least this furball will be tired enough for another cuddling session from Eiji. And maybe, it would about time that Ash and Eiji would commence their own cuddling session. At night. And under the sheets. Most preferably naked. Pleased with his one of his million genius plans, Ash almost skipped his way towards Leroy Street Dog Park with Buddy in tow.

As they strolled down West street and along the Hudson River, Ash was so much in peace that he could not help taking a chilly but refreshing breath of air. Looking down at Buddy, he also could not help but to smile at the hanging tongue and the ever-energetic wag of its tail (and he was also very thankful that Eiji was not around to tease him for it). "You know," he started, "you're not that bad when you're not a pop rocket that is about to go off anytime. Or a drool master." He was replied to with a cheery bark that Ash translated to 'Thanks, hoo-man, you is not bad too!'. With a low chuckle, Ash finally looked on forward to continue to his destination.

Then, Ash immediately regretted it. "Oh no...," he could only mutter under his breath as he froze on the spot so suddenly that Buddy made a small yelp at his side. Beyond the frosty haze of the afternoon sun, through the gently swinging bare branches of the nearby trees, and lull of the Hudson River by them, there stood the hag and Ash's most recent nightmare. As hastily as he could possibly manage, Ash ushered Buddy aside and hid themselves behind a bench. It was regrettably a lot smaller than the both of them combined and the sight made way for the passing people to ogle at them. Luckily for Ash, Buddy seemed to did a good job diverting the questions from the tips of their tongues to cooing as the fluffball panted and wagged his tail. Without the attention on him, Ash could finally devise a strategic plan on dealing with the old crone and her demented hellion which could possibly mean just moving to another park. However, that just meant that Ash was admitting defeat and he never admitted defeat in all of his life! (Well, with the numerous exceptions where his soft-eyed fluffy husband scolded him into doing chores - with hand on his hips and all, it was quite intimidating.)

"Right, Buddy," Ash whispered to the drooling golden pile of fur beside him as the most recent cooing passerby left, "Status update: the hag is now entering the target location whilst being dragged by her demon. The demon had commenced subjugation of the other dogs with a possibility of decapitation. Buddy, stay close to me. Alright?" Buddy then let out an affirmative low bark. "Good job, soldier, for your sake and mine. God only knows what Eiji will do to me if that hellion snatched a mouthful of fur from you." After a thought, he let out a thoughtful hum. "If it involves leather and spanking... You know, I wouldn't mind that much." Buddy let out another bark that startled Ash out of his lovely imagination. "Right! We need to get a move on."

Head bowed at the waist and deftly moving from one skinny bare tree to another, Ash and Buddy marched onwards whilst keeping their eyes peeled to any sudden movements of their target. Stealth was not really necessary in Ash's opinion as the hellion and the hag were causing so much racket at the dog park that even a triggered landmine would be quieter than the two. However, Ash had come to a conclusion a long time ago that it was quite possible that Ms Havisham (Ash still shuddered at the name) have eyes on the back of her head - large round, compound eyes that could see everywhere like a fly. Ash stuck by that fact for the months they had been neighbours with the old hag despite the amount of times Eiji had scolded him (and that one time where his normally cuddly lover had actually grabbed his tongue and washed it with soap. How humiliating). Thus, Ash was not taking any chances with this one at all.

"Oh! Professor Callenreese!" a cheerful voice greeted Ash from behind.

No! Oh, no! I have been seen! Ash thought in panic as he whipped his head around. A tall African-American man whom Ash instantly recognised as his colleague, and the one who gave him the hideous Secret Santa present, was strolling along towards him, hands in the pockets of his chinos, with a Portuguese water-dog in tow right beside him. At the sight, Ash lamented for a moment the fact the his colleague's dog never needed a leash - something that was impossible with Buddy.

"What you're all doing, sneaking around like that?" asked his colleague in a light-hearted fashion (Professor Botha, Ash now recalled, a law professor at the university who also ran a human rights clinic with the graduate students). The Portuguese water dog sat down beside the man with judging eyes trained on Ash.

"I am not sneaking around," Ash was quick to retort, straightening up to his full height and looping the Buddy's leash many times around his hand in case the golden retriever decided to over-enthusiastically greet the other dog with gusto. Ash then continued with a raised eyebrow in show, "I am just about to nonchalantly enter the dog park to exercise my over-excitable golden retriever."

The effect, however, was lost on his colleague as the man chuckled. "For a genius like you, lad," he started as the chuckled tapered off, "you are obviously a very funny one." Before Ash could even blurt out 'Excuse me?!', the law professor then turned to his attention at somewhere behind Ash and Buddy. "I know you are trying to avoid the..., rather spirited lady over there and her chihuahua." Then, Professor Botha then leaned over to Ash in a conspiring manner. "I must say, I am not fond of those two as well, and Roosevelt over here," he then nodded at his Portuguese water dog, who was now being sniffed at by Buddy, "is smart enough to stay away from her increasingly demonic chihuahua."

Gosh, I wish Buddy could do the same, Ash lamented again as he watched the golden retriever rolling around on the floor and showing its belly to the Portuguese water dog. "I can't believe that they are here at this afternoon," Ash confided, putting a finger upon his chin in thought, "From my calculations and observations before, the hag and the demonic dog specifically go to the dog park at around five in the morning on summers and around noon on winters. Now, this time might be just an extraneous variable but they only show depending on the weather, most likely rain, sleet, or hail. Since it is quite a calm weather today, albeit a bit breezy, there is a 98.375 percent probability that our targets would choose their normal walking time especially that there is a predicted mild rain in about an hour - Ms Havisham is a person who religiously follow the weather news." Ash, unbeknownst to himself and to the amusement of his colleague, started pacing on the spot. "What is even more surreal is that they even went to a dog park which a 0.235 percent probability on my graph -"

"O-ho!" Ash heard Professor Botha chuckle again, "Don't tell me you actually structured graphs and charts purely on Ms Havisham's activities! Does your dear husband know of this habit of yours?" The professor then smoothly procured his smartphone and began texting. Ash knew very well that Eiji and the professor did like sharing inside jokes about him.

"Of course, I have! And, no, he doesn't!" Ash exclaimed with a matching tinges of pink on his cheeks and hastily made a grab at Professor Botha's phone - without success unfortunately, "How do you think I managed to avoid those two until now?!"

To Ash's satisfaction, Professor Botha managed to look sheepish as he put his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay," the law professor placated the blond, "I admit defeat. However, I have to regrettably say that those probabilities might end up being useless to our current situation." When his colleague then turned a flitting eye towards the dog park and back onto him again, Ash could not help but to swallow a lump in his throat. He feared that he was not going to like what was going to be suggested next. "You know what," the law professor started again, "I think we should just meet the problem head on. Come now, professor. That hellion of a chihuahua have ceased her yapping and Ms Havisham is now resting on a bench at the furthest corner of the park. I reckoned that both of them are now too tired to successfully dominate the whole place to themselves." With a wink, he then added, "Besides, as there is a predicted slight rain in about less than an hour, they might head off in a few moments. Now, come! Come!"

Ash could only stand agape as the man put his hands in his pockets again, whistled at his Portuguese water dog, and both strolled towards the dog park where the imminent danger lie. Really, the hag alone should have an automated warning sign whenever she go anywhere - neon-bright and easy to spot in big bold letters. "Right, Buddy," Ash then muttered to the fluffball still lying on the ground, "we might have to take the front line, I'm afraid. In this instance, it is rather simple - we cannot show any fear. Do you understand?" An affirmative, yet too happy, bark. "Right, let's march on, soldier."

With that, Ash advanced - however, stiffly - to the battleground with Buddy on a tight leash. The professor was good few strides away in front of him and the distance between them only became longer and longer. That was when Ash realised that he was shuffling, a dastardly habit that Eiji and some of his colleagues (including the one in front of him) picked up when he really - really - did not want to be anywhere. Abashed at this realisation, Ash rolled his shoulders back and took powerful steps to finally catch up with the law professor who was now opening the gate with a lazy arm. How can this man be so calm?! Ash thought in his head as he unknowingly stared at the professor's back with wide eyes which was met by the latter. Judging from a small smirk on the other's lips, it was obvious to Ash that the professor had just read his mind. 'Good luck, professor,' the law professor had mouthed to Ash as he held out the gate open for the latter, and accompanied with a wink that left the blond raising his eyebrows even more.

Once the ever impatient Buddy had pulled a rather reluctant Ash into the dog park, the blond could not help but to suck in a deep breath and wait for the bomb to drop any minute now. Any second now.

"Well!" Ash heard the professor exclaimed happily as the latter nodded his head in satisfaction, "I must say, this is a better outcome than I expected!"

Ash was still sceptical - the calm before the storm, he would conclude often at these times. Thus, Ash honed in all of his previous training that he had acquired as a gang boss. His fluffball compatriot had all but abandoned him in favour of indecent sniffage of the other dogs' butt-holes. The law professor (who clearly needed to be smarter, Ash bristled) was now sitting on one of the benches, watching his Portuguese water dog exerting the same kind of misplaced, charismatic leadership over a small band of followers. But Ash would have none of that. He was ready to stalk, ready to strike-

BAM! All of the sudden, Ash was taken by surprise as he cried out in pain when a heavy object had struck him on the head. No, not just any old, heavy object, Ash corrected in his head as he attempt to rub the pain - and the loss of his dignity, it's a stupid handbag. With a heavy huff, steam almost coming out of his nostrils, Ash whipped around and turned a full on glare of indignation at the old hag (who seemed to have acquired a newer and stronger pair of legs to be able to move from one corner of the park to the other quick). (Ash was also quick to make sure to not breathe a word about this to Eiji in case his lovable but still quite terrifying husband pulled out the 'be nicer or else you'll eat natto for the rest of your life' card. Nope, Ash could not risk it.) The hag behind him was clutching the small but surprisingly heavy handbag on one hand and the other was balled into a tight fist. She was in a squat position in an attempt to look intimidating (though, Ash rather liked to think that the hag looked like a wrinkled frog) and was wearing an offended look on her face which made Ash bristle some more. Ash was certain that he was the one offended in this situation - he hadn't done anything yet!

"Lady!" Ash whipped around to start yelling at the hag (just to be clear, Ash would never yell at a senior citizen - unless they were old and wrinkly mafia bosses, and old and wrinkly crones with a demon chihuahua as a bodyguard), "You did not have to do that! What the fuck have I done to you?!"

"Your awful beast is harassing my poor, sweet Estella!" the hag screeched at Ash before raising her weapon to rain more hits on the blond.

And because there was an unspoken rule regarding hitting back at very old, very wrinkly people in society, Ash unluckily just have to bear the pain. "Ow! Ow! Stop that! Seriously!" he fruitlessly cried out as he held out his hand in vain, "Alright! Alright! I'll take Buddy and leave!" It was a pain admitting defeat but it was definitely not worth having bruises over it.

Once the hag finally relented, and once she got too tired and wheezy from her attacks, Ash managed to escape to look for the golden furball in the dog park. When he had finally spotted the familiar golden sheen of the drooling monster's coat, Ash could not help but to shake his head upon discovering that Buddy had really decided to sniff at the growling and spitting chihuahua (which was obviously contrary to being 'sweet' as the hag argued). And this was the moment that Ash firmly decided that it was high time for Buddy to learn societal rules and regulations about sniffing anybody's butts. Although, if Ash was to be completely honest, there was only a 35.78% probability that he would succeed.

"Buddy!" Ash called as the demon had finally started attempting to bite off Buddy's nose. Unluckily for the chihuahua, Buddy was too busy galloping around in excitement to stay still. "C'mon, we need to go!" Ash continued as he readied his harness and his leash.

Buddy, of course being Buddy, was having none of it and proceeded to manipulate Ash in a wild chase around the dog park. Ash's frantic calls predictably went unheard as the fluffball shoved through the waves of dogs, hid behind tall legs, and even dived between the couple who were shameless enough to be making out in the middle of what should be a PG-rated park for families and children. "Buddy! Come. HERE!," even Ash's most assertive calls fell on the deaf, floppy ears of the monster and he was left no choice but to huff and puff along, wrestling between the swarm of people in the dog park without even an apology. The other people of the dog park was left flabbergasted by the spectacle and started to move towards along the gate, alert in case the two blond blurs head towards their directions again.

With horror, Ash's eyes widened as the fluffball started to head towards the old hag - with tail wagging and tongue flapping out of its smiling, open mouth. "Buddy, NO!" Ash cried out but it was too late. Buddy reared upon his springy, hind legs, leapt forward, drooling tongue leaving splotches of wet marks upon the concrete ground. Before Ash knew it, his golden retriever had the old hag pinned on the floor and licking the hell out of her wrinkly face.

"BUDDY!" Ash's frantic roar echoed throughout the dog park. He reached to the fluffball's collar and reiterated at every hard, but largely fruitless, pull, "You. Do. Not. Lick. OLD HAGS!!!"

The hag had only disturbed her own caterwauling with a brief "Who are you calling a hag?!" before continuing with her screeches. Ash definitely needed Eiji's wonderful head massage after this. The other headache of his life, Buddy, was still not relenting however hard Ash pulled on the monster's collar who was very much happy being oblivious at the amounting trouble that it was getting into looking at the hag's wet, increasingly reddening wrinkly face. Not to mention that all the enthusiastic licking and wriggling around looked very much like humping on a bad angle. Ash then reminded himself briefly to start obedience training for Buddy (in which he was also very sure Eiji would excel at better than him - because, again, life would always continue being a bitch to him).

It was all getting too much for Ash already but his trained ears still did not miss the imminent danger in the form of a spitting chihuahua that was now charging towards their way as much as the demon's little legs could take it. Oh, for fuck's sake, Ash could only muster in his head and before he could even think of Plans A,B,C, and Z, the chihuahua had leapt on its surprisingly springy legs. Life flashed before Ash's eyes. Buddy's drool spun and was being spilled all over him and the old crone. The hag's screeching became impossibly louder. And all Ash could focus was the little, razor-sharp, two rows of teeth coming onto his face. 

And then completely missed him.

Ash was flabbergasted as the demon flew past his head and instead went towards its own handler. Or specifically, the hag's hair - which was then completely removed by the chihuahua from her now bald scalp. Ash stood with wider eyes than before, unable to look away at the hag that was now struggling onto her feet with loud, rasping breath. To be fair to Ash, it was not only him that was astonished by the sight. The discovery had rendered the whole park speechless even as the chihuahua went off the scene and proceeded to noisily gnash the hair - or, specifically, a rather realistic and expensive wig - into pieces that would leave one stunned as well.

Now, this scenario definitely needed some explanation for the ladies and gentlemen that were fortunate enough not to know about Ms Havisham. Ash and the rest of the people at the dog park, however, were not the unfortunate ones. You see, everyone who knew Ms Havisham tend to know absolutely everything about her - or, most specifically, her hair. You would think that those damnable information (through bragging and maybe even some sort of slight extortion) would only be limited to friends however inconceivable the idea was. But no, unfortunately not. Ms Havisham liked to extend her bragging her luscious long, with hardly any grey hair to her enemies too in some sort of desperate act in superiority. All of this, of course, made Ash roll his eyes most of the times but there were rare times that even he ask himself what kind of hair care the hag was using. His and Eiji's other, thankfully friendlier, neighbour did comment that the old crone had suddenly appeared with such a hair and it became the talk of their whole block for weeks. Ash could only comprehend how much the hag loved the attention. Then, today at the dog park, the truth had finally come out.

"ASH!" a stern but familiar voice broke the silence, startling Ash from his stupor. Then, the familiar voice registered in his head. It then echoed tenfold and Ash could only think these words at that point: Oh. No.

Ash and Buddy whipped their heads simultaneously, one with two sets of innocent naivety and a drooling tongue whilst the other had 'panic' written all over his face - because Ash knew that life would blame everything that happened today onto him. It was just the matter of placating Eiji, who had now wrenched the gate open with such force that had Ash reeling. In a spark of realisation, Ash then whipped his head towards the damnable law professor who was still sitting by the bench. Oh, you! Ash could only think in contempt as the other lifted his phone, shrugged his shoulders, and gave a sympathetic but still mocking quirk at the corner of his lips. His Portuguese water dog, which was now back by the law professor's legs, returned its judgmental stare at Ash. Buddy however had ditched its blond master and bounded over to Eiji in circles, barking happily around. The traitor.

"What is this?!" Eiji scolded Ash when there was only an inch between him and his lover, "Causing a scene?! And being rude to poor Ms Havisha-" Ash observed as Eiji's eyes already wide eyes grew larger even more as they set their sights on the still hiccuping and groaning old hag, who was now trying to wrestle her wig back from her demon chihuahua. Then, Eiji gasped, "Oh, Ms Havisham! Your lovely wig!"

This set Ash reeling a little - Eiji's cry of shock at the hag's predicament rather than the loss of the said hag's hair. But then, this should not really surprise Ash anymore. Eiji had a way of knowing more about people than him. And, of course, Eiji would know things that the others - including Ash himself - had not caught on yet. Oh dear, Ash thought in a spontaneous moment with a hand onto his increasingly rapid heartbeat, I think I am falling in love with him all over again.

Ash's stomach, however, dropped in an instant once Eiji rushed to Ms Havisham's side to help her out. Or, more specifically, attempted to help her out because that _old damnation of a hag_ slapped Eiji's gentle hands away. "Leave me alone!" the hag had screeched at Eiji, who was visibly - and rightfully - taken aback. Oh, this is NOT ON! This is not on at all!, Ash thought in anger as he squared his shoulders and started marching towards the witch. 

"Oh, but Ms Havisham! There is no need to worry!" Eiji started again, who had seemingly forgotten that he was slapped by the witch, "I know a salon nearby where we can fix your wig in no time! There are very highly recommended and I think they even supply wigs for celebrities - you know that that is the trend nowadays."

There was a pause between the two and Ash stopped on his heels, rescue forgotten because it seemed that Eiji - that amazing, soft and cuddly lover - had the situation by its balls. The hag, rather than the normal hostile look upon her face that made her look like her own hellion of a chihuahua, took on a much more contemplative look with a finger upon her chin. Eiji, however, had a proud look of confidence on him, with his chest a little puffed out and hands behind his back, rocking back and forth on his feet. Minutes went by and the crowd in the dog park were still waiting for an outcome with bated breaths. Even the dogs sat by the sidelines, looking up at their owners with curiosity. Ash, when Eiji had finally searched him and winked at his direction, was going through a mild and slow aneurysm at every second that ticked by.

Then, Ms Havisham's attention turned back to Eiji. She stepped forward. The crowd, Ash including, let out a small gasp. Eiji was still smiling and that smile had gotten even bigger once Ms Havisham spoke to him, "I hear you make excellent pumpkin pies?"

Until to this day, Ash was not quite sure at what magic did Eiji had to make Ms Havisham one of their more regular visitors and, of course, Eiji just had to serve the hag pumpkin pies every time she came by. It was also at these times that Eiji seemed to have a profound knowledge about hair and wig care that he always share with the hag in an enthusiastic manner. "Oh! Because Ash is also quite particular with his hair!" Eiji would divulge every time Ms Havisham asked. Ash could argue back but then Eiji would retaliate by exposing his extensive range of expensive conditioners and shampoos that he liked buying at salons.

Nevertheless, things had finally gotten a lot quieter in the area. Even when the demonic chihuahua still continue to yap and snarl every time Buddy liked to squeeze its nose through that crack on their fence.

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Notes:
> 
> WOW! HAS IT BEEN AGES!
> 
> Apologies for the very long overdue story within the series but hey, life happened. It started as a plan for a small-ish story but obviously, that didn't happen at all, lol.
> 
> Featuring Buddy again because, well, it is Buddy. And he is still the Goodest Boi TM.


End file.
